Paseo Verde falls in Little League Baseball regional final

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — Paseo Verde seemed to get back up every time it was knocked down this Little League season.

It looked like the same thing was going to happen at Albert E. Houghton Stadium on Friday after ravenous Snow Canyon (Utah) fans started a “U-tah” chant in the third base stands with two outs in the sixth and final inning of the Mountain Region final. Paseo Verde responded with a single to load the bases and bring the tying run to the plate.

But a team that entered the day 10-0 in elimination games couldn’t find another rally this time.

A groundout to the pitcher gave Snow Canyon (3-0) a 7-3 victory and Utah’s first berth to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Paseo Verde (2-2) came one win short of becoming the second Nevada team to reach the event after Mountain Ridge in 2014.

“We just couldn’t get the big two, three hits that we needed to have in the fifth and sixth innings,” Paseo Verde manager Bill Senne said. “That was the ballgame.”

The run to a regional final matched the best in Paseo Verde history, after its 2008 team made it to the West Region final against Hawaii.

This year’s team had to fight and claw to make it that far. Paseo Verde lost its first game in the District 2 tournament but won six in a row to take the title. It took a three-game winning streak to capture the state championship after another opening-round loss.

Paseo Verde faced elimination again in the first year of the Mountain regional after losing to Snow Canyon 5-4 on a walk-off single Tuesday. It bounced back again to defeat Boulder Arrowhead (Montana) 5-1 Thursday and reach the championship game, which was televised on ESPN.

“The resiliency is incredible,” Senne said.

Snow Canyon just proved to be a match for the second time in four days. The Utah team took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning thanks to a single to right field from third baseman Kolby Lamoreaux. Paseo Verde tied the score in the top of the second thanks to a run-scoring single just inside the third-base line from right fielder Jake Nakahara and a RBI groundout to second from catcher Zach Portnoff.

Lamoreaux put Snow Canyon ahead again in the bottom of the third with a three-run homer to center field. The lead was extended to 7-2 the following inning but Paseo Verde fought back.

The team loaded the bases with two outs in the top of the fifth inning and scored one run on a wild pitch. Paseo Verde loaded them again in the top of the sixth but couldn’t keep the game going.

With the win secured, Snow Canyon piled on the mound with the San Bernardino National Forest peeking over the top of the stadium in the background.

Nevada will not make its second trip to the Little League World Series, but Utah will leave Alaska, Colorado, Kansas, North Dakota, Vermont, Washington D.C., Wisconsin and Wyoming as the only places to have never made the event.

“I think it was a great experience for the boys,” Paseo Verde president Mike Fairweather said. “You make it as far as they did, it’s pretty cool. A ton of kids would’ve given every opportunity to be here. Only one team from Nevada makes it. We’re fortunate it was us and I thought our boys had a great week.”

Contact Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BenSGotz on Twitter.